“$170 to fly air taxi 10 - 50 miles?”
Try 3 miles...
Ever had to get from midtown Manhattan to JFK at 3pm you best plan on 2.5 hours of soul crushing gridlock. I would gladly pay $200 to take a 5 min UberAir from midtown to JFK or LaGuardia. In fact not only uber but two others are planning exactly this with service to Newark as well. A taxi is already gonna run you $100 with tolls and traffic wait time on the meter.
My city is big, but not huge. Our rush hour is crowded, but not impassible.